“Never before has the price of broiler chickens fallen as miserably as this year. It is difficult to sell them cheaply, the market has stagnated, some families have lost hundreds of millions of dong, the more they raise, the bigger the loss, many households do not dare to restock.” That is the sad situation of many farmers in Thai Nguyen facing the current situation of broiler chicken prices falling.
Mr. Hoang Van Toan (Hoa Khe hamlet, Van Han commune, Dong Hy district, Thai Nguyen province) shared about the difficulties of deeply discounted broiler chickens and wished to be supported in connecting consumption when chicken prices dropped sharply. Clip: LP
Broiler chicken prices fall dramatically, farmers suffer heavy losses
These days, chicken farmers in Thai Nguyen are losing sleep and are restless as chicken prices have dropped to an unprecedented level in recent years.
On the last day of February, we were present at the egg-laying chicken farm of Mr. Bui Quang Huu's family - Director of Tan Tien Hill Chicken Breeding Cooperative (Na Ri hamlet, Tan Khanh commune, Phu Binh district), which is considered the capital of Phu Binh hill chicken.
The low price of chicken has made many farmers in Thai Nguyen restless. Photo: Kieu Hai
Seeing us coming, Mr. Huu quickly confided: "The price of chicken has never been as low as this year. I don't understand why the price of chicken suddenly dropped so much this year. Now the selling price on the market is only around 58,000 - 60,000 VND/kg, some households can only sell for 50,000 VND/kg. With such a selling price, chicken farmers like us are really losing a lot, not to mention the work. Not to mention the households that don't have money and have to borrow from the bank and buy animal feed on credit, the loss is even higher."
According to Mr. Huu, realizing that chicken prices tend to decrease gradually from the end of 2024, he has encouraged people in the cooperative to reduce the number of flocks by almost half, but many households are still in dire straits. The total number of broiler chickens in the cooperative is about 20,000. At the current selling price, every 1,000 chickens will lose about 25 million VND, so multiplying with a household raising about 5,000 chickens/batch, the capital loss has reached more than 100 million VND. The more households raise, the heavier the loss.
The family of Mr. Bui Quang Huu - Director of Tan Tien Hill Chicken Breeding Cooperative (Na Ri hamlet, Tan Khanh commune, Phu Binh district, Thai Nguyen province) currently has 10,000 laying hens. Photo: Kieu Hai
Not only have chicken prices dropped, but the consumption market has also slowed down. Many chicken farmers have chickens that are 25 days past the selling age and still cannot sell them. "Normally, chickens are sold when they are only about 120 days old. But now they are 145 days old and still cannot be sold. The cost of animal feed to maintain the chickens during those days must have increased, causing farmers to suffer even heavier losses," Mr. Huu confided.
Grasping the market situation, from the beginning of 2024, Mr. Huu has been promoting and mobilizing cooperative members to switch to raising chickens in a biosafety direction to reduce feed costs, reduce antibiotics and improve meat quality. Along with that, he also advised people to grasp market demand, not to restock massively to minimize risks.
Although many households have changed their awareness and applied this farming method, the low price of chicken has made many households discouraged and they have returned to the previous farming method, which has increased feed costs and farmers have no profit, even big losses.
"If this situation continues for even a short time, many households will no longer have the capital to raise chickens and will have to abandon their coops," said Mr. Huu. According to Mr. Huu, the only way to limit risks in such a situation is to strictly manage the number of chickens and reduce the number for greater efficiency.
Previously, Mr. Huu's family also raised large-scale broiler chickens, but in recent years, Mr. Huu's family has switched to raising laying hens and invested in incubators to supply breeding chickens to the market and to cooperative members. With a total barn area of 4,000m2 and 5 chicken farms, his family currently has 10,000 laying hens with 7 incubators with a capacity of 15 million eggs/incubation batch. However, due to low chicken prices, his family is only maintaining about 1,500 breeding chickens per day. In 2024, Mr. Huu will sell about 700,000 breeding chickens to the market, fortunately retaining his capital.
With 7 incubators as present, with a capacity of about 15,000 eggs/incubation batch, Mr. Huu only dares to maintain the quantity of about 1,500 chicks coming out of the incubator each day because the price of chicks is low. Photo: Kieu Hai
As for the current price of chickens, it is only 6,000 VND/chicken, while it must reach 9,000 VND/chicken for the breeder to break even, which means a huge loss. It is worth mentioning that the cooperative members only consume about 9-10%, the rest he has to sell freely and find his own outlet outside. But up to this point, no unit has officially signed a long-term contract, so it is very difficult to consume.
Chicken farmers want capital support and find channels to sell chicken meat and eggs.
Faced with the current situation of low chicken prices causing farmers to suffer, Mr. Huu hopes that relevant levels and sectors will support capital sources for farmers to maintain the number of chicken flocks during the time when they cannot sell them, and at the same time help households access preferential loans to have conditions to invest in biosafety farming to help improve product quality and value.
Besides, Mr. Huu's biggest wish is that the authorities at all levels create conditions for connection and find outlets to help farmers have long-term contracts to sell their products more easily.
In the same situation, many members of Tan Phu Organic Hill Chicken Cooperative, directed by Mr. Nguyen Van Tuyen (Ca hamlet, Tan Khanh commune, Phu Binh district), could not avoid losses. As the head of the cooperative, Mr. Tuyen worried: "I have foreseen the current situation where chicken farmers will suffer losses when they massively restock their flocks without changing their farming methods to suit the needs of the market and current trends. Many farming households only see the immediate future without thinking long-term. With the current situation of raising chickens, the more they raise them, the more they will lose. From the end of last year until now, some households have lost about 100 million VND, while others have lost about 200 million VND."
Mr. Duong Van Luan - Member of Tan Phu Organic Hill Chicken Cooperative (Ca hamlet, Tan Khanh commune, Phu Binh district) specializes in raising laying hens and said that the current price of eggs is only about 1,000 VND/egg. Photo: Kieu Hai
According to Mr. Tuyen, since mid-2024, he has recognized the situation and has encouraged members of the cooperative to reduce the number of chickens by nearly half compared to before to reduce the risk of loss. Along with that, he also encouraged people to use preparations in livestock farming to help reduce feed costs, reduce environmental pollution and antibiotic residues, thereby improving meat quality and selling prices. However, many households have not changed their awareness and are still raising chickens using traditional methods.
In 2024, Mr. Tuyen will not raise chickens in large quantities and on a mass scale like every year, but he will focus on raising 1,000 organic chickens, using probiotics and biological products that he has researched and produced himself. Mr. Tuyen said that although chickens using this type of yeast grow slower, the quality of the meat is very delicious, and when brought to the market, they are favored by many customers. Thanks to that, he sells chickens for 150,000 - 200,000 VND/kg but still cannot supply enough.
Mr. Hoang Van Toan (Hoa Khe hamlet, Van Han commune, Dong Hy district) confided: "Currently, my family has 10,000 laying hens. The current egg price is too cheap, only 1,200 VND/egg, so raising animals is at a great loss. Right after Tet, it was only 1,000 VND/egg. With the selling price of 1,200 VND/egg, my family sells about 3,000 eggs per day, so each egg loses 500 VND, each day we lose about 1.5 million VND in eggs. Combined with many chickens not laying eggs, on average we lose about 7-8 million VND per day. With such unstable prices, farming households like us face many difficulties."
Mr. Hoang Van Toan (Hoa Khe hamlet, Van Han commune, Dong Hy district) on the far right is worried that if chicken prices remain low as they are now, his family may have to abandon their farm because they no longer have the capital to continue production. Photo: LP
Even though farmers like Toan are facing many difficulties, they still want to continue raising livestock. Therefore, he hopes that all levels and sectors will support capital to stabilize production. "If we do not receive capital support, we may have to abandon the farm or rent it out because we no longer have the conditions to continue production," Toan said sadly.
Source: https://danviet.vn/dan-nuoi-ga-thit-o-thai-nguyen-can-duoc-ho-tro-tieu-thu-boi-gia-ban-giam-do-mat-tim-thuong-lai-20250228154639677.htm
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